This invention relates to apparatus for supporting the corners of cargo containers being transported on railroad container cars. It relates particularly to apparatus for supporting the adjacent corners of two 20 foot long containers being transported on a single freight deck of an articulated railroad container car where the car is adapted to carry containers of different lengths. The continuous development of cargo containers has resulted in standardized containers of four different lengths. Today's state of the art container measures either 48, 45, 40 or 20 feet in length and a modern railroad container car is typically adapted to handle all four lengths of containers.
When cargo containers are transported on container cars the four corners of the 48, 45 and 40 foot long containers are generally secured with locking devices located on the freight deck of the container car. However, when two 20 foot long containers are transported on the same freight deck, only their outboard ends can be secured with the above locking devices. Their inboard ends must be supported with additional, intermediate, support means which must be removable to prevent interference with the longer containers.
In the past, cargo containers have been secured to freight decks by using either removable or pivotal devices to avoid conflict with longer containers. Though effective, these devices of the past have been inconveient. They typically included securing devices on one side of the freight car which operate independent of corresponding devices on the opposite side of the car. Such an arrangement requires the use of two operators, one on each side of the freight car, or a single operator who must continually climb over the freight cars to operate the devices.